Vitamin B3 has the potential to be used in the treatment of fungal infections, according to a study by Canadian scientists reported in the journal Nature Medicine.
Candida albicans yeasts are part of the natural flora of the digestive tract of every second person. However, with reduced immunity – in patients with AIDS, organ transplant patients or undergoing chemotherapy for cancer – yeast is a huge problem because it causes mucosal infections and systemic infections.
While various treatments are currently available for these infections, their effectiveness is largely limited by the emergence of drug-resistant C. albicans strains.
Researchers at the University of Montreal have shown in their latest experiments that vitamin B3 (also known as vitamin PP or niacin) blocks an enzyme called Hst3p deacetylase, which is essential for C. albicans to grow properly and can therefore be used to treat infections caused by them.
Hst3p deacetylase is involved in the modification of proteins from the group of histones (and more precisely H3 histones), which are responsible for the proper packing of a long DNA molecule in the cell nucleus.
They found that inhibition of this enzyme in C. albicans – either with vitamin B3 or by temporarily blocking the gene that encodes it – reduced the yeast’s ability to cause infection in mice.
Yeast cells were losing their vitality, histone degradation, disturbances in the structure of DNA and abnormal growth occurred.
Importantly, vitamin B3 was effective against a broad spectrum of C. albicans strains, including those resistant to other drugs.
In addition, it inhibited the growth of other pathogenic species of the genus Candida, as well as Aspergillus fumigatus (aspergillus), which is a fungus in humans, which causes mycosis of the skin of the lungs and can exacerbate asthma attacks.
There is an urgent need to develop new methods of combating C. albicans infections, as they are one of the leading causes of nosocomial infections and are associated with high mortality, comments Prof. Martine Raymond.
According to the expert, the results of his team’s work may be the first step towards the development of new treatments for yeast infections without the risk of severe side effects in patients.
There are basically two compounds under the name vitamin B3 – nicotinic acid and nicotinic acid amide. It takes part in the regulation of metabolism, in the formation of red blood cells, regulates the level of cholesterol in the blood, neutralizes the toxic effects of chemicals and drugs in the body.
Its main dietary sources are liver, poultry, fish, legumes, nuts, cheese and brewer’s yeast. (PAP)